Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-03-28
SANTA MONICA.
Services at the SANTA Monica
Church-The New Statue.

4 .
services at the santa Monica
| Church--The New statue.
The services at the Catholic Church at
lSanta Monica yesterday were very inter
estlng and largely attended. Many OF
the visitors VINO came to see the statue
of Santa Monica were disappointed, be
cause yesterday being Passion Sunday,
all the statues and paintings on the Altar
were covered. The choir IN charge OF
Lenard Luy, was composed of Misses
iBoheme, German, Henry and Collins,
and sang very beautifully anumber of
sacred hymns. Father Have then began
a very eloquent sermon and was listened
to with deep interest. His text was,
l"He that is Of God heareth the words OF
God, therefore, you hear them not be
cause you are not of God. st. John VIII,
chap. As. How had the Jews meriteu
this severe reprobation? On this very
occasion they had in, crowds early in the
morning, hastened to listen to the words
of Christ. How then justify the rigorous
Judgment pronounced upon them for
refusing to hear the word Of God. The
d fficulIy is easily solved. The Jews
mad listened to the word of our Re
deemer, but they had refused to profit
by them; they had beheld his miracles,
but they refused to yield to conviction.
Their hearts had been visited by
thousand secret inspirations, but they
still persisted in their blindness. THIS,
their refusal to profit by the graces they
had received, was the cause Of the hard
judgment pronounced against them. The
tone Of severity employed by the meek
est of men is intended to convey to us
an important lesson. The object is to
give us an elevated idea of the graces we
receive from God, and to inspire us with
a salutary fear of being wanting in our
correspondence OF them. Of all the doc.
trines which religion presents to man,
there is none of greater importance than
that Of Divine grace.
Man is necessarily dependent being
in the order of nature as well as in the
order of grace, by his own powers. by
natural act. By his own exertion he Can
never make his actions meritorious or rem.
der them worthy of eternal salvation
He may possess every virtue in the
natural order, but if God makes our
actions meritorious in the supernatural,
in the multitude of the saints who now
surround the throne of God, there is not
le who does not owe to divine grace all
the triumphs for which he is crowned. If
they had not been possessed of grace
their heroic deeds might have been re.
corded in the perishable monuments of
earth, but could never have been in.
scribed on the pillars of the Heavenly
Jerusalem.
Consequently God must send his grace
too. And hence He says wit out me you
can do nothing. Without His grace we
cannot take the least step towards at
tainment of our eternal salvation. But
if the doctrines grace is humtling to the
pride of man, it is, on the other hand,
calculated to fill him with hope and con
ISOLATION. He, himself, assures that He
will support us by His grace, that He
will give us all the supernatural help
that is necessary for us to work out our
salvation. By the death Of our Savior
all the treasures of mercy and grace
were opened to JUS. The stream that
flowed from the wounds of our Savior
brought spiritual riches among us. How
many are the graces we have received
through the efficacy Of. the precious
blood? In the sacramento how COM
pletely are all our wants supplied. If
we have offended our Heavenly Father
ask forgiveness. Are we suffering much
affliction, He says in the sacramento of
life "Come to Me and 1 will refresh
YOU" Not content with dying for us
He would still be with us to support
and encourage us, would daily renew
the scene of Calvary on our affairs. Even
on the bed Of sickness, even in the midst
of the perils of death--when the whole
world abandons us-God comes to our
relief, provides us with support and
strength and pours the balm of consol.
alton into our dying bosoms. Even
when you fed from God, when yon pro-
voked Him by sin, His mercy was inces
sanity calling you to repentance. In the
midst Of your follles, did you ever feel
emotions of apprehension and alarm? 1t
was Gods grace which thus spoke to
your hearts. Brethren, If you are still
unmoved, unchanged, say not that Gods
graces have been wanting. If you are
not progressing in the way of salvation;
If your hearts are at distence from God,
you must DOl 8tVTlOute IL w tuc Waut Vi
grace, but to the abuse of it.
The Father then discussed the conse
quences of the abuse of grace, and said
that men who were abusing the grace
Of God were given over to their
passions and lusts. If we continue
to abuse and neglect the gifts of
heaven God will Withdraw his powerful
helps as He withdrew his graces when we
produced no fruit, and he will pronounce
against us the dread sentences which he
addressed to the barren fig tree: "Cut it
down. Why cumber it the ground?'
My brothers, scrutinize your past con.
duct. Vigorously examine what has
been your correspondence to the graces
you have received? II your conscience
condemn you ponder well the conse.
quences of continuing TO abuse them.
Think well what would be your situa.
tion were God to leave you. -
The statue of Saint Monica is four
feet high and is carved out of ivory. 1t
was made in Brussels and purchased by
Mrs. Ponet, who presented it to the
church. The statue was blessed by Rt.
Rev. Bishop O'Connell on the 18th inst.
Almost a Human sacrifice.